1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a food dispensing machine and method of use, and in particular to a machine for cooking, assembling, and dispensing uniformly shaped foods, such as hot dogs, sausages, or other meats in buns.
2. Background of the Technology
Machines for dispensing food items, such as for dispensing hot dogs, are known in the art. One such machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,299 to Leonid Leykin (“the '299 Patent”). In the machine of the '299 patent, a hot dog or sausage is removed from a standard package, placed on a fork holder, and then heated by an infrared oven. Individual buns are conveyed from boxes, and the heated sausage or hot dog is placed in the bun. The bun together with the sausage or hot dog is then warmed in a microwave oven, and the finished food item is dispensed.
However, there remain a number of problems with existing combined food dispensing device technology. For example, the use of infrared heating for the sausage/hot dog via the fork holding device of the '299 Patent, as well as use of a microwave oven for heating the combined sausage/hot dog and the bun, results in both a slow process and uneven heating of the food. The use of standard packages of hot dogs, from which sausages/hot dogs are individually withdrawn following opening, can result in staleness of sausages/hot dogs that are not immediately removed, as well as producing a potentially dangerous food situation (e.g., bacterial growth in sausages/hot dogs remaining in unsealed packages). Further, the pushing devices of the prior art used to individually remove sausages/hot dogs from containers introduce spillage and bacterial growth from, for example, leakage of juices from the containers, and the complexity of the pushing devices can produce jams or other problems in the devices.
There remains an unmet need to provide food cooking devices that overcome the problems with the prior art.